


Stargazing

by angelscoffee



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Father Figures, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29483565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelscoffee/pseuds/angelscoffee
Summary: Takes Place in a Bayverse AU where the war remained unfinished on Cybertron, and a few humans volunteered to help. Two entirely different souls kindle a friendship in the unlikeliest of places.
Relationships: Optimus Prime/OC
Kudos: 3





	Stargazing

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first posted story, so be nice and leave a review!!

Onboard the great ship, the humans and Autobots found their needs for living to be quite different. For starters, the Autobots soon learned that the humans needed six to eight hours of recharge per every human day, which was 24 hours. To the Cybertronians, this seemed a ridiculous amount of time wasted in stasis. They needed only recharge every few human years. Of course, they could do so at any time they wished, but the leisure tended to be wasted on them. 

The Autobots consisted of Optimus Prime, the leader, Bumblebee, the scout, Ratchet, the medic, Ironhide, the weapons specialist, Prowl, the strategist, and Jazz, Optimus’ 1st lieutenant.  
As their three year journey through the cosmos progressed, the warriors found themselves dumbfounded again and again by the humans’ way of life. 

The small squad of humans who found it necessary to aid the Autobots in taking back their home consisted of 7 people. The group was headed by Captain Darius Dmitri. His best friend and seasoned warrior Jonathan Fargo acted as his second in command, and the others sort of fell into ranks based on their age. Experience was everything on the battlefield, and it went without saying that the oldest were the wisest. 

In order to accommodate their human friends on their large ship, one of the main things the bots did was turn off the lights when it reached around 8pm human time, because the humans had explained to them that their specific sleep/wake rhythms were attuned to their home planet. Without any sense of the time, their rhythms would become disturbed and their health would be affected. Wanting their human comrades, who would soon come to be family, to be comfortable, the Autobots grew accustomed to the lights being switched off periodically. 

Furthermore, the humans explained rather sheepishly at the beginning of the journey that silence was another condition if they were to get the best sleep. Of course, these were military soldiers and could handle less than optimal sleeping conditions, but the Autobots, Optimus especially, wanted to grant the humans every courtesy. After all, they decided to leave their homeworld behind to aid the limited number of Autobots in the recapturing of the newly reformed Cybertron. Optimus fought fervently for them, so in the eyes of the seven humans, it was their duty to do so for him. Their size and stealth could be of utmost use in the case of infiltration. It would be dangerous, and the chances of all seven of them returning unscathed from the fray were miniscule. They knew the risks when they volunteered to go, though.

It was a Thursday night- the humans wished to keep track of earth days- and the lights had been out for some time. This was no hindrance to the Autobots, who could see decently in the dark. Optimus Prime padded out of the command center as quietly as he could- he knew it was unrealistic to ask all of the bots to be silent at this hour, but they all seemed to understand his wish to be courteous to their sleepy friends and tended to step lightly during lights-out.

The soft glow of holograms on the walls aided the glittering stars outside in illuminating the interior of the ship. The general silence made its presence in the way snowfall did, gently and peacefully. The door to the command center opened up into a large room the humans called the cafeteria. There were hallways on either side, each curling around the main room, with doors dotting them. The tables were dark silhouettes, the large Cybertronian ones overshadowing the small human ones. Cabinets lined the walls perpendicular to the hallways, filled with the things humans needed for sustenance. The soft, blue tinted light of the holograms sat still across them, contrasted starkly by the shadows of the floor. 

It all looked so eerily peaceful, and Optimus wondered if the humans felt that way too. It must give them a sense of comfort, he mused. They saw the world in much more detail than the bots did. It must be unnerving to see everything up close. Maybe that's why darkness comforted them. It put a blanket over the world.

He crept, or, did his best to creep, down the hall, making his way to his personal office. He rounded a corner and stopped still.

In front of the great glass window sat a small form, bundled in a large hoodie. She was hugging her knees to her chest, staring out at the infinite void of space that stretched out in front of her, the stars scattered like grains of sand. The hallway for the first time looked too big to Optimus. Too big to house that little body. Her face was not one of wonder, but rather one of heavy contemplation. The time for wonder had been in those first few minutes of placing herself in front of the picture, when she had realized her true insignificance in the grand scheme of the universe that enveloped her. 

Now, the light of billions of worlds illuminated her pale, thought-stricken face. Her eyes were half closed, but still vitalized. Dark circles nested under them. Her pink hair looked nearly white where the light hit it, while the rest remained in shadows behind her little head, just above the lip of her hood. The very same hair that had provoked a skirmish within the squad about the necessity of pink hair dye on a three year journey to an alien planet. And yet, the hair remained, insignificant enough to be forgotten by everyone except its owner. 

This was Quinn. Being just 19 years of age, she was the youngest member of the human squad. Her normally bubbly and talkative demeanor earned annoyance in the older troops, but with the two others near her age, earned friendship. She and Optimus had only spoken a few times within the few months since their trip began, mostly in the context of group discussions. It was mostly Dmitri and the higher ups who spoke with Optimus on a daily basis. 

Optimus, having observed all these factors in a matter of seconds, took a few careful paces towards her. He knew it was late for her to be awake. He contemplated what could have prompted her to rise from her berth and come here, of all places. Space was such a familiar terrain to him, that for a moment he forgot the effects it could have on a primitive, unexposed set of eyes. 

Her little face turned up to him for a second. He could immediately sense the exhaustion in her half-lidded eyes, but with that came intense curiosity and amazement. Half her face was lit up, and the other half was dark. Now that he was closer, he could see the flyaway hairs bending away from her head. They looked blue. The shadows on her face contorted into a tired smile. 

“Hey, Optimus…”, she greeted in a small voice, turning her gaze back to the infinity before her.

She was certainly the most informal out of the group. Optimus stood next to her, careful not to get too close, as it, he had learned, seemed to unnerve the humans. 

“Quinn...is your recharge not going well?”, he inquired. He took notice of how he absolutely towered over this girl. 

“You could say that, I guess.” Her optics remained transfixed on the stars. 

Something about the life of this girl...Optimus wanted to know more about these small beings he swore to protect. He made to sit down next to her, but had a bit of a tough time trying to keep his distance from her.

“It’s okay”, she said kindly, noticing his struggle. 

“You’re not scary.”

Optimus glanced down at her incredulously. She used childish language, yet in this moment acted mature and welcoming. The way she put it indicated to him that the other humans would not have been at such ease if he was this close to them, but they trusted him. At least, that’s what he made of it. Finally, he sat with his legs crossed next to Quinn. He was so close that she could reach out and touch him without having to stretch her arm. 

This peculiar behavior piqued his interest. He knew she was a child, an infant compared to his own life span, yet her vibes were those he found he could resonate with.

Quinn was, on the other hand, wondering amidst her gushing existential and philosophical thought processes, why the Autobot leader was sitting next to her like this. She knew he was kind and his aura from his place next to her was that of gentle, quiet contemplation, not totally unlike her own, but her impression of him was that of a stoic, righteous leader, who did not openly share his emotions. Sitting next to her in the wee hours of the night and sharing her view of the heavens seemed to her as if he was giving her an invitation to his inner thoughts.

The same thought crossed both Optimus’ and Quinn’s minds at the same time. She had come out of her room, didn’t she? She made her way to this exact, exposed spot on the ship for a reason. Yes, it was to gaze out upon the universe in stupor, but perhaps a more subconscious motive was to share all of the feelings that this view entailed with somebody. 

“What do you think of it?”, Optimus broke the silence first, addressing the cosmos before them. It was a bit out of character for him to do so, especially since Quinn was the more talkative one, but his curiosity overtook him. What must be churning through that little pink head?

“Hah…”, she ran a pale hand through her vibrant hair ,”It’s....big.”

Those words. Simple, yet powerful.

“It makes me feel so small...smaller even than sitting next to you. You’re small too, in the grand scheme of things.” Her rambling nature began to show its colors.

“I couldn’t sleep, ‘cause I was thinking about how there’s nothing but a wall separating me from, well, infinity. I just can’t grasp it. How can there be so much… just sitting out there? Galaxies, and worlds, and lives unfolding in front of us. How can you get used to it? Are you used to it?”

Optimus turned to her. Old blue optics met soft brown eyes brimming with childish inquisition. 

“I suppose you grow numb to it over time. It is beautiful, when you stop to appreciate it, but as you see it every day, it becomes more like a backdrop.”, the leader mused.

“No offense, but I hope I never grow numb to it.”

Quinn pressed her hands and forehead to the glass, and something kindled in her eyes. “I wonder how many souls I haven’t met.”

Optimus stared at her. One would think having a life cycle millions upon millions of years long would grant them the opportunity to bask in the splendor of the universe. However, it was unfolding that time only wore away at the wonder for the world embedded in every being.

“Then, it would seem”, he voiced thoughtfully, shifting his legs, “that those who have the shortest life cycles retain the most admiration for the universe.”

Quinn hummed in thought. 

The two shared a few minutes of quality silence, the smaller form trying to take in the glittering expanse, and the larger form trying to extract from the scene the old wonder he had once possessed. 

“I’m sorry.”

He gave her a puzzled look. “Whatever for?”

“I’m sorry you can’t experience how wonderful it is to look at it like this.”

Optimus felt as though he was talking to a sparkling. Such a vibrant, youthful empathy was radiating from this girl. He gently placed a servo on her back.

She did not shy away from his touch, which surprised him slightly.

“It does not grieve me, Quinn. I am not unattuned to the vast amount of life that exists around us. I have seen much of it, and it is every bit as beautiful as you are imagining.”

She leaned back into his servo and stretched her arms up, gazing up at him. So childlike, and yet…

“I wish I could see it all!”, she exclaimed. “All the adventures and people...  
I could meet.”

She really did drift from emotion to emotion quite easily. 

Optimus cracked a small smile at her dreams. Big and simple, as the world ought to be. 

His spark felt heavy with the knowledge that many such beings would not hold the same ambitions. He could sense that Quinn knew this too. There are more creatures out there who held the same ideas as Megatron.

Quinn, ever the optimist, elected not to think about that right now. She leaned back towards the glass and Optimus withdrew his servo, which had served as a temporary recliner. 

“Y’know, one of the reasons I volunteered to go on this mission, besides like, doing what was right, was that it was the opportunity of a f-”, her eyes widened as she sheepishly stumbled over the curse word, as she had allowed herself to become too loose, “-uuhhreakin lifetime.” 

Optimus paid no mind to her screw up. Although he was not a fan of profanities, the facts that Quinn felt comfortable enough to use causal human dialect after only being with him less than an hour and respected him enough not to use curse words filled Optimus with pride. These were certain demonstrations of trust and consideration. She would grow into a fine young woman.

Once she saw that no reprimand was coming her way, she continued ,” I was just so bored with life on earth and once I knew that there was something more I could do, that there was like… something more out there…I knew I had to go.” She rubbed at her eyes.

Her voice became lower and revealed her exhaustion, “I know...we’re all probably not going to make it out alive. This is the real deal. This is what I signed up for when I accepted the offer to join Dmitri’s team.” 

She hugged her knees again and gazed outside. “But at least for three years, I get to spend time with the people I’ve grown to love most. And I get to make new friends along the way…”, she trailed off.  
Optimus now knew the real reason she rose from her berth. This freshly recruited soldier was afraid. For the lives of her human friends, and her own. This little pink-haired girl had been afraid of what was to come, and sought comfort in the stars. Not just the stars, too… she had clearly been hoping for someone to come along. The existential bombardment was not enough to distract her from her fear… that was the job, he felt, that belonged to him. This human had come to help him in his war, and here she was pouring her heart out to him. His compassion took over and he once again placed his servo comfortingly on her back.

“Quinn, I promise I will do everything in my power to bring you all home safe. This is not your war, and your willingness to sacrifice yourselves for our cause fills me with hope and pride.”

She turned and hugged his hand. “Thank you,” she whispered, tears brimming in her eyes. 

“I cannot imagine allowing any more humans to die because of us. You seven will make it out safe, I will ensure it”, Optimus said gently but firmly. He was determined to see it through, for the sake of humanity and for this little pink-haired being who only wanted to adventure among the stars. 

Quinn pulled away from the makeshift hug, looking at the hologram on the wall across from the glass. “It’s nearly 3am!”, she exclaimed, not realizing how much time the two had spent stargazing. 

Optimus rose from his sitting position, Quinn growing smaller and smaller in his view. 

“Yes, you should get some recharge time. You will be tired tomorrow.”

She began making her way down the hall away from him, saying goodbye.

“Quinn, the human quarters are this way”, Optimus called, pointing in the direction behind him. 

She turned with an embarrassed look, the starry light revealing that her face had gone red. 

“Right. Well, this ship is huge anyway…”, she quickly walked right under him, between his feet, and down in the direction of the cafeteria.

Optimus watched her go, amused at what the lack of recharge could do to a human  
As he saw her round the corner, he could not help but feel immense warmth at the interaction he had just had. He knew Quinn would be a bright life force for the rest of her days... and he hoped she would never lose her wonder for the world.

As both parties walked away with the comfort of having a newfound friend, they knew this was the first of many stargazing nights.


End file.
